Tax liability when moving house within Switzerland
The place and period for tax liability depends on whether you move house within or between cantons. It may therefore well be a part of your financial considerations when you plan to move house.
Within the same canton
When moving house within the same canton, it is relevant where you were registered as at 31 December of the year you are moving. This is where you will be paying tax for the entire year regardless of when in that year you actually move. Provisional instalments already paid to the relocating community will be refunded.
The cantons of Glarus, Nidwalden and Obwalden, on the other hand, operate on the principle of relocation: taxes are paid for the entire year in the municipality in which one lived on 1 January.
Only the cantons of Fribourg and Neuchâtel calculate the amounts pro rata temporis: the inhabitants are taxed by both communes for the exact number of days.
Moving to another canton
When moving to another canton, it is relevant where you will be registered as at 31 December of the year you move house. You will be paying tax in this canton for the entire year on a retroactive basis. The canton of departure is left empty-handed.